1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to body building and exercising equipment and, more particularly, to bench-press and preacher-curl weight workout stations incorporating safety features designed to reduce the likelihood of injury to the weight lifter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An increasingly popular form of weight lifting is the bench press. In a bench-press weight workout, the lifter lies with his or her back resting on a horizontal or declined bench (angled so that the head is lower than the knees). A barbell is raised from a rest position on the weight lifter's chest, to full extension of the arms, and then back to the chest again. It is important in the bench-press weight workout that the lifter be working near his or her maximum weight limit for several repetitions, and that, in each repetition, the lifter be able to lower the barbell down to the chest.
Normally, the weight lifter will raise the barbell from a support rack located above the lifter's head when the bench-press workout begins and return the barbell to the same support rack when finished so that the lifter can then easily exit the bench. However, if the weight lifter is unable to return the barbell to the support rack at the finish of the workout, then the barbell will remain on the lifter's chest, pinning the lifter to the bench and subjecting the lifter to potentially serious injury. Because of this risk, it is common practice to require additional persons to be present to act as spotters who can assist in raising a barbell off a trapped weight lifter before serious injury occurs.
In recent years, an increasing trend has been for many weight lifters to workout by themselves, particularly in a home environment. In recognition of this trend, a number of mechanical devices have been proposed in an attempt to protect the weight lifter and/or raise the barbell after a failed lift. Representative of the prior art devices are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. to Flowers (3,874,658), Niles (4,216,959), Faust (4,249,726), Milnar (4,411,425), Comier (4,635,930), Cruz (4,773,642), Barrett (4,799,672), Selle (4,799,673) and Tanski (4,807,875). Most of these prior art devices contain one or more shortcomings which make them less than an optimum solution to the problem of protecting the solo weight lifter from the consequences of a failed lift.
One shortcoming of some of the prior art devices is that they simply prevent the barbell from being lowered far enough during the workout to pin the weight lifter. These devices will also prevent a weight lifter from fully completing the downward movement which is generally deemed necessary for maximum workout. As a result, such safety devices are seldom used by serious weight lifters.
Another shortcoming of other prior art devices is that they require that the barbell be raised or pushed by the pinned weight lifter in order to remove the barbell from the lifter's chest to a position where the barbell can be safely held clear of the lifter. A weight lifter who is unable to complete the lift and becomes pinned by the barbell will have extremely limited ability or energy to maneuver the barbell to such a position.
In order to avoid such shortcomings while still enabling the barbell to be raised, some of the prior art devices have provided means for mechanically raising the barbell from a trapped or pinned weight lifter. However, such devices are complicated and expensive and require an external power source for operation.
With respect to equipment used by weight lifters in preacher-curl weight workouts, a problem exist that is comparable to that described above with respect to bench-press weight workouts. Weight lifters using a standard preacher-curl stand must reach below the chest platform to remove the barbell from a fixed bracket. This can be extremely uncomfortable and can cause overextension of the elbows and lower back area. Further, at the completion of the lifting repetitions, many weight lifters drop the barbell into the fixed bracket in order to avoid possible overtension injury. Dropping the barbell into the bracket not only can damage the equipment, but also increases the risk of injury to the weight lifter and to other persons in the immediate vicinity.
Consequently, a need exists for the design of improved safety features on bench-press and preacher-curl workout stations which will avoid the aforementioned problems and shortcomings.